Flukten – Velkommen Håp

Modern adventures in jazz and blues.

One trend I've noticed in my own listening choices over recent years is towards instrumental music. An odd thing given how much I love lyrics. The emotion conveyed by well chosen words and a beautiful voice can be incredible as we all know. But there's something about wordless music that allows you to make a stronger connection. The absence of lyrics allows a certain space to engage your own imagination.

In some way it must also up the game of the musicians involved; rather than providing backing for a vocalist, they're tasked with telling stories and conveying feeling with notes. Be it sadness, happiness, joy, despair, humour, anger or any point on the complicated spectrum of human emotion.

One recent instrumental album I've enjoyed recently is this debut by Norwegian jazz quartet Flukten. Recorded in two days at Propellor Studios, a converted old mill near the Akerselva waterfall, Velkommen Håp, (in English Welcome Hope) is a playful adventure in modern jazz. Bluesy in places, quite often jaunty and uplifting.

The record opens with it's title track, a hurried post-punk rush. It's not too long before the track's tightly played central motifs emerge from the sonic soup. This battle between improvisation and composition has long been a characteristic of jazz and Flukten honour this tradition, adding their own 21st century stamp along the way.

'Budeie Boogie' features the drums and bass kicking out a delightful R&B rumble with the guitar and sax playfully topping the track off with uplifting melodies. 'Framsyning' is an excursion into free jazz, opening with a series of guitar chords before all band members eventually join in and take the music to newer places.

There's wonderful use of blue notes in 'Barneblues' which is the closest the the band get to a tradition twelve bar format. They band return to this use of blue notes later on in 'Bleik Myrk Legg'. As fun as these tracks are, to my mind the best moments on the album are where the band venture into a more contemplative, melancholy mode, as on 'Jonas Og Hvalen' and album closer 'Blomstrene', a softly satisfying landing and nice counterpoint to the album's otherwise wild flights.

Flukten are - 

Hanna Paulsberg - saxophone

Marius Hirth Klovning - guitar

Bárđur Reinart Poulsen – double bass

Hans Hulbækmo - drums

Click here for Odin Records on Bandcamp.

 

Erland Dahlen - Bones

An immersive listening experience. Norwegian percussionist releases fourth solo LP. 

 

On a recent episode of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the author David Mitchell spoke about one of his record choices as making him feel emotions he didn't know existed and making him feel nostalgic for times and places he doesn't even know. I may have got the wording slightly wrong there but hopefully you get a sense of the sentiment. I'm reminded of this quote while listening to the new album by Erland Dahlen, a much respected percussionist within free-jazz circles in his native Norway. Bones is Dahlen's fourth album, having previously released Rolling Bomber (2012), Blossom Bells (2015), and Clocks (2018).

You would think that the tendency for drummers as bandleaders would be to make virtuosity and showiness the central feature when it comes to recording. (I'm reminded here of a Gene Krupa/Buddy Rich LP I picked up at a charity shop, where the two pitch up against each other. It's a fine record but its emotional resonance is hampered by the desire to show off chops.) Thankfully that's not the case here – Bones is all about the emotional journey. Meditative, hypnotic, at times soothing, always immersive.

Dahlen plays pretty much all the music himself, which features a broad range of drums and percussion instruments along with Mellotron, modular synths, dulcimer and zither. The album has a rich instrumental palette, and one that embraces experimentation – along with the vintage drum skins used there are musical saws and the sound of marbles rattling on a plate. Also notable is the use of heavy reverb, which along with the virtuosic drumming and focus on emotion makes for a compelling one-sitting listening experience, full of progression and forward movement.

The last year has been one of increased solitude for many, a time when if you've been lucky enough to stay healthy and solvent there's been an opportunity to take yourself on an inner journey. A record such as Bones is a perfect soundtrack for such moments of reflection. It's an album that requires you to turn off the phone, TV, and tablets, to put on some headphones and let the music take you somewhere.

Click here for Hubro Records

 

Silent Fires - Forests

Norwegian/Italian quartet explore yearning and spirituality on their debut album.

In today's world there's much that makes one despair – climate change, the rise of racism, and the depressing state of politics in Britain and America in particular. For all that it is possible to hold onto some long-term optimism. One thing that gives me hope for the future is young creative people, their global outlook, desire for change, and their wealth of talent and ability to empathise.

Forests is manifestation of all of this. It's the debut album by Silent Fires, a quartet of talented musicians from the European improvised music scene. The album is a deep exploration of spirituality, quietly passionate and ripe with complicated emotions. Subtle piano chords, a hint of ancient folk melodies and pure-voiced vocals conjure up a soundscape that encourage the listener to delve into empathy and introspection.

The words of Maya Angelou, René Guénon, William Butler Yeats, and band leader Alessandro Sgobbio are set to music, as are extracts from the Bible and the Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians. These are given voice by vocalist Karoline Wallace. Her bell-like tones lending the words a heavenly reverence, sometimes singing, sometimes spoken and occasionally whispered. While the music has for the most part a calm, glacial stillness, it sometimes swells into small storms, spurred by subtle notes and pushes from all three musicians.

For their live appearances Silent Fires are joined by contemporary dancer Synne Garvik. The band held some release shows for Forests in Norway and France around the album's release, late last year. There are dates to follow later this month on Norway, Germany, Portugal, and Italy. More details below.

Silent Fires are -

Karoline Wallace – vocals

Hilde Marie Holsen – trumpet, effects

Håkon Aase – violin, percussion

Alessandro Sgobbio - piano

Forests Release Shows

12^th February – Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo, Norway

20^th February – B-Flat Jazz Club, Berlin, Germany

22^nd February – Pora-Jazz, Porto, Portugal

23^rd February - Casa Da Paes, Milan, Italy

1^st March – Langhus, Kirke, Langhus, Norway

Click here for Silent Fires' website.

Click here for Silent Fires on Twitter.

Click here for Silent Fires on Facebook.

Click here for Silent Fires on Instagram.

Click here for AMP Music & Records.

Emmeluth's Amoeba - Chimaera

Second album of adventurous free-jazz from Scandinavian quartet!

Without wishing to patronise our Scandinavian friends it's true to say most music fans in the UK would be hard-pushed to name any currently active Danish musicians. Sadly, that's more a reflection of Britain's blinkered outlook than it is on Denmark's musical reputation. What they probably don't know is that Scandinavia has an increasing reputation for producing world-class improvised jazz. Recent releases on label's such as Hubro being just the tip of this particular iceberg.

Signe Emmeluth is an example of a Danish musician breaking new ground at the coal-face of modern jazz. The young alto saxophonist, now based in Oslo, leads a quartet, collectively known as Emmeluth's Amoeba whose debut album, Polyp, was released in 2018. They've recently released a follow up Chimaera, which takes their music into new, ever more adventurous territory. Let's be clear, this is not music for the faint-hearted, but if you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll no doubt relish the journey this album will take you on.

Opening track 'Squid Circles' begins with Signe's lone saxophone making short sharp runs and closely clustered notes, gradually becoming more melodic and languid before the rest of the band begin to join in, adding discordant piano chords and scattering drums. The result may be disorientating but is equally hypnotic and intriguing once you allow yourself to be drawn in.

'AB' allows Emmeluth to push the saxophone to its limits with high pitched squeals designed to disorientate. The track evolves into a cartoonish romp that owes as much to Scott Bradley as it does to exponents of free-jazz. At the six-minute mark piano, guitar and saxophone conspire to conjure the image of a claustrophobic city soundscape - traffic rumbles, sirens wail and people rush about their business. It's quickly shifting mutations such as these that characterise Chimaera. At times cerebral, other times calm and soothing, occasionally humorous, but only ever a few notes away from being primal, even brutal and violent.

'Velvet' sees the quartet move into more impressionistic areas, mixing Debussy-eque textures with tinkling cocktail jazz piano. For all its calm, soothing feel there still lurks an ominous darkness just under the surface. These tensions and dynamics are further explored as the album branches out into more audacious and chaotic forms, free of cliché and full of honest, raw expressive emotion. It all makes for a brave and challenging record from a refreshingly uncompromising artist.

Emmeluth's Amoeba are -

Signe Emmeluth – alto saxophone and compositions

Christian Balvig – piano

Karl Bjorå – guitar

Ole Mofjell – drums

Click here for Øra Fonogram Records.